Robert Nkemdiche suffered torn ACL

Arizona Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks would not elaborate on Monday about the knee injury defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche suffered, leading to his being placed on injured reserve. He wouldn’t elaborate as to what sort of surgery the former first-round pick would need, either.

That seemed to signal it was potentially serious, especially with Wilks saying they received “bad news” on the knee one day after believing he would be fine.

When Wilks addressed the media after practice on Wednesday, he revealed how bad it was.

Nkemdiche will have surgery on his ACL on Thursday. It is basically the worst-case scenario.

Because it is so late in the season, the injury could cost Nkemdiche a large portion of the 2019 season. With a typical recovery being between 8-12 months, he should be able to play next season, but he probably will not be fully recovered until next season is over.

In the short term, it means the Cardinals are thin at defensive tackle. Looking ahead, they desperately need to add talent on the defensive interior for next season, as their most talented player on the line will be sidelined indefinitely.